1972 in the environment of November 1973

[Sir Mohamed]

Imagine the 1972 presidential election takes place with all major events taking place a year earlier. The Watergate break-in happens in June 1971 and the coverup gets into the election year. Spiro Agnew resigns as VP in October 1972 and Nixon nominates Ford as VP nominee to both congress and on the GOP ticket. Vietnam Peace Accords are already signed in January 1972.

Does Nixon lose? Is the Dem nominee even McGovern or someone stronger?

[One Term Floridian]

Imagine the 1972 presidential election takes place with all major events taking place a year earlier. The Watergate break-in happens in June 1971 and the coverup and its cover-up gets into the election year. Spiro Agnew resigns as VP in October 1972 and Nixon nominates Ford as VP nominee to both congress and on the GOP ticket. Vietnam Peace Accords are already signed in January 1972.

Does Nixon lose? Is the Dem nominee even McGovern or someone stronger?

Dems take the election a lot more seriously and I doubt McGovern gets nominated.

It would be a closer race but Nixon probably still gets it

[Alben Barkley]

I think the D nominee could win in that environment, maybe even if it's McGovern. If so he probably does a lot better in the West, Midwest, and Northeast, the places he showed signs of relative "strength" as it was. But he still gets obliterated in the South, albeit not by the Assad sham election margins he did in our timeline. Only states there's even a remote possibility he could win in the South are West Virginia and maybe Kentucky.

If it's not McGovern, if it's Humphrey again or Scoop Jackson or something, they would have an even better chance of winning and winning big.

If you move the timeline even farther to the point an impeachment inquiry against Nixon is already underway, the Dem is basically guaranteed to win in a landslide, even if Nixon resigns and is replaced with Ford on the ballot at the last minute.

[Fuzzy Bear]

If that had happened, Agnew would have already been removed and Nixon would have be dealing with the fact that he had a corrupt VP as well as Watergate.

Nixon would likely have lost CA and NY.  He likely would have swept the South, but he likely would have lost at least SOME of the Midwest and New Jersey. 

One of the effects of Watergate was the deep disappointment felt by many of Nixon's Democratic supporters in the Northeast and Midwest.  This swath of "Middle America" viewed Nixon as their Law and Order Champion; now, they saw him as just another crook.  Nixon's 1968 ad man, Harry Treleven, concluded that there were many perceived "negatives" attached to Nixon that no longer applied.  One of them was the "Tricky Dick" image.  That image resurrected itself in 1973.  The 1972 Nixon was a person who was considered a person who'd level with people.  The campaign in 1972 would have been much different had that not been the case.